To protect vulnerable nature, the government must drastically reduce the amount of nitrogen. This has serious consequences for farmers. They should keep fewer cows, chickens and pigs. How do farmers deal with this message and how do they see the future? NU.nl speaks and follows different farmers in different situations. Today: a Hoogeloon chicken farmer in Brabant.
According to Johan Remkes’ advice, poultry farmer Ben Beerens (43) thinks he is one of the “load peaks”. The nitrogen broker recommends purchasing five hundred to six hundred flagship chargers within one year in order to quickly reduce nitrogen emissions. As a result, other projects, such as housing construction, can continue.
“If there is a really good offer, it could be interesting,” Beerens says initially. But after thinking about it for a while, he comes back.
“I want to start raising chickens again and I absolutely do not want to leave here. When an offer comes I take a constructive position, but the purchase is actually a waste of capital for us. For someone who wants to stop already, it might be different, but I want to keep the chickens and preferably where they are now, “Beerens explains.
Remkes’ words were “of hope”
The Beerens poultry farm is located in Hoogeloon, Brabant. It holds a total of 100,000 so-called broiler farmers in two locations. These are the parents of broilers.
“An above average company,” he estimates, which also has above average ammonia emissions. His company is located a few kilometers from the Natura 2000 Kempenland-West area. That’s why he thinks there’s “a chance” that his company is one of the five hundred to six hundred peak loaders Remkes spoke of.
Beerens found the tone of Remkes’ words of “hope”. Of course, the nitrogen broker pointed out the points Beerens didn’t like, such as the forced takeover. But it is precisely for the “good tone” that there is a “good basis”, according to Beerens.
This good basis is the so-called critical deposit value (KDW), which Remkes recommends eliminating. Not deposition (nitrogen precipitation), but emissions must be central. “This is also easier for us to measure,” says Beerens.
In addition, it welcomes that farmers who currently do not have a valid permit, due to the nitrogen ruling State Council in 2019 (the journalists of the PAS) are given priority assistance.
Beerens is already working to reduce ammonia
Beerens himself is also aware that something has to change in his company’s ammonia emissions. “We have known for twenty years that we are in close contact with nature. This is why we are already working to reduce nitrogen. We are currently testing an innovative system that reduces ammonia.”
“There is a technology to dramatically reduce our emissions,” says Beerens. “That technology alone is so expensive that it is inaccessible to implement it quickly.”
What also makes it difficult to purchase expensive technologies are the ever-changing agricultural rules. Remkes already pointed this out on Wednesday. He cited the disappearance of the milk quota in 2015 as an example. Farmers expanded their farms with larger barns and more cows. Phosphate rights followed in 2017, which meant many expensive stables couldn’t be full.
“We invest in something for twenty years and the regulations change every three years, so to speak. It’s difficult,” says Beerens.
For now, there is no other option but to wait and see what new nitrogen policy the government will propose. “Of course you think about it, but I stay calm enough. Although I also know that there are people who are very different in this respect.”
